It’s hard not to sympathize with a Quentin Tarantino villain, considering the director has succeeded in making them likable and charismatic to some extent irrespective of how despicable they are. But there is one famous anomaly to this equation, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie from Django Unchained.
Surprisingly, Tarantino wasn’t initially confident about the villain he wrote for the star-studded Western, comprising Samuel Jackson. Christopher Waltz, Jamie Fox, etc. And Considering this antagonist deviated from most of the other despicable characters he has written, it resulted in a weird dynamic between him and DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie.
Quentin Tarantino Felt Leonardo DiCaprio’s Character Was Substandard
Writing an antagonist that he absolutely despised was something pretty new for Quentin Tarantino, as even a character like Hans Landa had some likable aspects attached to him. And following his doubts about the character of Calvin Candie, who had no redeeming qualities, Tarantino thought it was substandard, which doesn’t hold a candle to some of his other vile villains.
“I had a very weird relationship with the character he played, Calvin Candie,” Tarantino said. “Calvin Candie was different from the rest of them. I kind of detested the character. I really, really hated him. It was weird to write a character that I hated and kind of feel that way about the character. Because of that, I thought he was a substandard character.”
But contrary to his doubts, the character of Calvin Candie became a fan-favorite, and the biggest reason behind this turn-around was Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance.
Leonardo DiCaprio Filled the Character’s Shortcomings
Although Calvin Candie might not be a Quentin Tarantino villain that we’d root for, it still doesn’t stop the character from leaving a lasting impact on fans. Despite the character’s shortcomings on paper, Leonardo DiCaprio did an excellent job filling the blank spaces and bringing a sense of ambiguity to Calvin Candie, making him entertaining in an evilly delicious manner.
“When Leo was really into it, I thought I was kind of buffaloing him a little bit,” Tarantino recounted. “I thought, ‘This character is not as good as he thinks it is.’ I’m not going to set him straight! (Laughs). I’m thinking, ‘He ain’t all that.’ To me, he was without ambiguity, which makes him a lesser character. But, we did a really good job of filling in everything. And Leo brought ambiguity to the piece.”
Not only Leonardo DiCaprio’s Candie was extremely entertaining, but he also succeeded in making the character extremely terrifying, and the lack of any likable traits only amplified the sense of terror.
